


Hello, Can I Be Your Boyfriend?

by ArtistiqueReader12



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Break Up, Developing Relationship, Getting Back Together, Love at First Sight, M/M, Relationship Through the Years, and together, because I just need them to be happy, for like two seconds, kind of?, met as kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 03:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17195372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtistiqueReader12/pseuds/ArtistiqueReader12
Summary: “Hello, my name's Arthur. You're new and I think you’re pretty. What’s your name? Can I be your boyfriend?”





	Hello, Can I Be Your Boyfriend?

**Author's Note:**

> This was loosely inspired by this post: http://lao-pendragon.tumblr.com/post/181453521878, more specifically the tags, do follow Lao's blog, if not for the hilarious tags/commentary, but for her lovely, lovely art. 
> 
> I had fun writing this little piece and I hope you like it. Again, this was written at 1 AM so excuse any incoherences/mistakes, if you point them out, though, I'll correct them asap.
> 
> Also thank you to everyone who has commented on my other two stories for this fest, they made my days a million times brighter <3

[Arthur, age 7; Merlin, age 6]

“Hello, my name's Arthur. You're new and I think you’re pretty. What’s your name? Can I be your boyfriend?” Big blue eyes blinked rapidly and looked at him in confusion. Arthur just waited patiently while balancing on the back of his feet with his hands behind his back.

“Err… what?” Arthur rolled his eyes and put his arms beside his body.

“What’s. Your. Name?” He said slowly and now the kid was looking at him with an annoyed expression.

“My name’s Merlin.”

“Okay, Merlin, can I be your boyfriend?” Merlin just raised a dark eyebrow and tilted his head a little.

“Mmm… I don’t know, you’ll have to ask my mom.” Arthur was tempted to just give up since he didn’t really like talking to adults, but then Merlin gave him a little smile that crinkled his eyes just so and his cheeks were a little pink and in that moment, he was even prettier than Morgana.

With his mind made up, he took Merlin’s hand.

“Fiiiine.” Arthur started walking towards the edge of the park where he could see his big sister talking to a brown haired woman. “But if I have to meet your mom, you have to meet my sister.”

 

* * *

 

[Arthur, age 12; Merlin, age 11]

“C’mon Merlin, hurry up!” Arthur shouted while looking back at Merlin, and he probably should have known that trying to do that wouldn’t end well, but it still really hurt when a second later his shoe caught the edge of the sidewalk and he fell dawn. Hard.

“Arthur!” Merlin’s concerned voice reached him but, just then, he was more preoccupied with the pulsing ache coming from his right knee.

“Arthur, are you alright?” Arthur had turned around and sat with bent knees while trying to hold in tears. He gave Merlin a murderous look but it was kind of ruined by the tears dancing in his eyes and his red face.

“Okay, silly question.” Merlin admitted looking apologetic. “I’ll go get mom, okay?”

Just as Merlin was getting up, Arthur’s hand shot up and grasped his elbow to prevent him from leaving.

“Stay.” He said, watery and unsteadily. It hurt and he didn’t want to move but more than anything, he didn’t want to be left alone; he would get up in just a second, he just needed Merlin and a few minutes. Merlin’s eyes softened and he knelt beside Arthur.

“Okay.” Merlin murmured and leaned in to give Arthur a quick kiss on the cheek.

Arthur forgets the pain for a second and blinks, tears rolling down his face, and turns to look at Merlin, whose face is red, with eyes downcast and holding tight to Arthur shirt sleeve.

“What…? Merlin?”

“I just thought a kiss from your boyfriend might help.” A smile slowly worms its way to Arthur’s face and he can’t help but lean a little closer to Merlin.

When Hunith finds them five minutes later, Arthur’s knee bleeding and staining his white sock and tear tracks on his face, they walk to Merlin’s house and he’s (mostly) not lying when he says it doesn’t actually hurt anymore.

 

* * *

 

[Arthur, age 20; Merlin, age 19]

“You’re a delusional, naïve idealist who can’t see the world for what it is!” He’s angry and he should probably walk out before he says something he’ll regret, but he’s in too deep now. 

“And you’re a conceited, self-absorbed idiot who can’t do anything without daddy’s approval!” Merlin’s words are laced with venom and disdain and they strike deep and make Arthur see red.

“Don’t bring my father into this! He has nothing to do with it!” That’s a lie and they both know it.

“He has everything to do with it! You won’t even tell him about me and I’ve been your boyfriend since I was 6!” Merlin’s voice is full of pain and if Arthur were a little more mature, he would walk out and wait until they've both cooled off to continue this discussion.

He isn’t.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be my boyfriend anymore!” It's out of his mouth before he can stop it and, for a second, he feels victorious when he sees Merlin’s grief stricken face but then, regret fills his mouth and sticks to his tongue while acid burns his throat.

“…fine…” It’s said in a blank tone and the sense of loss is so intense that Arthur wants to double over and claw his insides out to stop feeling so empty.

The soft sound of the door closing is overshadowed by the sound of Arthur’s heart breaking and scattering on the apartment floor and he thinks that maybe, in all likelihood, stabbing himself a few times would hurt less than the sight of Merlin walking out on him.

\--

“Hey…” Hesitancy has never suited him.

“What do you want Arthur?” Merlin’s voice is tired and way too sad.

“I told Uther about us.” No use wasting more time than he already has. A week without Merlin had been like all the things he did in school to please his father: barely bearable, automatic and without purpose.

Silence.

“Can… can you… I just… Please? Merlin? Please?” Arthur’s voice is a little desperate and a lot broken.

“I’ll be there in fifteen.”

Merlin gets to the apartment in ten mintues and even though everything's not alright, once he’s in Arthur’s arms it feels like it might.

 

* * *

 

[Arthur, age 27; Merlin, age 26]

They’re walking, gloved hands clasped, it hasn’t snowed yet but it probably will soon, in the same park they had met.

“Fuck, it’s cold.” Merlin said while adjusting his scarf.

Arthur had known this man for twenty years and every single winter, even though Merlin knew he couldn’t keep warm if he wasn’t wrapped in twenty different layers, he seemed unable to dress efficiently.

“That’s what you get for not packing what I told you to.” He pulled down Merlin beanie over his face and wrapped his scarf around it. Merlin made an indignant noise while trying not to lose his balance and rearrange himself. Arthur, for his part, took off his gloves and the little box with the simple gold band in it out of his pocket and fell down to one knee in front of a still struggling Merlin and waited.

“Arthur! What the f… Arthur?” Merlin’s voice was angry, but when he couldn’t see Arthur and then spotted him, his face changed ridiculously quickly and his eyes went wide.

“Hi Merlin, I’m Arthur. You’re not new here and I think you’re pretty. Can I be your husband?” Arthur smiled up at Merlin. Merlin let out a half-sob, half-laugh and nodded with vigor.

Arthur stood up, smiling still, and took off Merlin’s glove to place the ring on Merlin’s finger. Merlin’s hands then went around Arthur’s neck as he leaned in to kiss him. Arthur could feel the cold of the band on the back of his neck and the giddy feeling only increased as he pulled Merlin closer.

“You’re a prat.” Merlin said when they let go to breathe. His tone was fond and his eyes were sparkling with tears of happiness and Arthur just had to kiss him again and again and again, until they were both breathless and dizzy with joy.

“Oh, but darling, imagine how pretty our babies will be.”  


End file.
